Exercise is becoming more and more of a way of enabling a healthy lifestyle. Resistance or “strength” equipment has repeatedly been shown to provide numerous benefits including increased bone density, increased lean tissue mass and also some cardiovascular benefits. In addition cardiovascular equipment has a wide range of health and fitness benefits. A component to strength equipment is the ability to change the resistance. Not only are some people stronger than others and some muscle groups stronger than others with the same person, but as a user progresses in a strength program preferably the machine provides greater resistance. Therefore the ability to change resistance with any exercise device, especially a resistance or strength machine enhances the usefulness of the device. It is desirable to have ease of use, and high variability in the resistance selection system. This allows minimal down time during training as well as small increments in resistance over a great range to accommodate the largest audience as possible.
It should therefore be appreciated that there is a need for an adjustable resistance setting device that allows for actuation of a dial, other actuator or direct actuation of a resistance system to simply, easily and reliably change the resistance settings in an exercise device. The present invention fulfills this need and others.